Young Sun Brayden Crossley trolls Richmond over road woes

Plucky Gold Coast have poked the Tiger by pointing out Richmond’s poor travel record ahead of their clash at Metricon Stadium.

Any fears premiership coach Damien Hardwick may have held that his side would lack motivation against the battling Suns may have eased after first-year player Brayden Crossley cheekily reminded the reigning premiers the Suns had a better interstate record then them in 2018.

Richmond’s only four losses have been interstate this year while none of the Suns’ four wins have come at Metricon Stadium and they have beaten Carlton and Sydney interstate.

West Coast were caught in the crossfire of the academy product’s entertaining drive by, but his intended target was Saturday’s opponents.

He confirmed everyone at the Suns had been reminded about Richmond’s 0-4 record on the road this season.

“It has been pretty noted in the media with them, West Coast have been tarnished the past couple of years with the way they travelled and Richmond have been a bit like that this year, so it has been well noted,” he said.

The Tigers’ losses have come to Adelaide in the grand final rematch then premiership contenders West Coast, Port Adelaide and GWS.

The 18-year-old with the handlebar moustache and permanent smile may have broken a club record with his use of the word “excited” in a three and a half minute interview that left no one in any doubt the Tigers held no fears for him in his eighth game of footy.

“No (we’re not daunted), we are really excited,’’ he said.

“They have had four interstate trips this year and haven’t won yet so we are really excited by the challenge of going up against that.

“We went interstate and beat Sydney a couple of weeks ago, so if we can put together three and a half or four quarters of footy like we did then, we are excited by the bad of footy we can play.

“And going up against the reigning premiers, everyone gets a bit more excited by that challenge and wants to step up for that, so we are excited rather than daunted.’’

Crossley has no personal concerns about his own challenge this weekend where he will join Jack Leslie to carry the load in a makeshift forward line that is missing Tom Lynch, Peter Wright, Sam Day and Jack Martin, almost inviting Hardwick to send his perennial All-Australian defender Alex Rance his way.

“Obviously Richmond are a pretty good side, top of the ladder, I’ll probably be able to match up on Rance who is one of the best defenders in the competition,’’ he said.

“So that is a great learning opportunity for myself and I am really excited by that.’’